NCAA Men's Basketball Thread

[DFWJC]

Don't want to make a sperate thread, but in college baseball something pretty special happened today...

East Carolina's Jake Kuchmaner--who came 1 pitch away from no-hitting Ole Miss last week--
pitched a PERFECT GAME at Maryland today.
27 batters in order.
Wow.

 

[uvaballa]

I liked how the brackets shook out. The committee put in more mid majors this year and looks like some great matchups.

 

[DFWJC]

I liked how the brackets shook out. The committee put in more mid majors this year and looks like some great matchups.

Yeah, it's a tough job.

I think UNC got the toughest #2 seed matchup (Kentucky).
UVa has some good teams in their bracket, but I'd rather play Tenn then Kentucky.
Our resident Big12 homer should be thrilled to be in the West. The Zags and Michigan are good 1-2s but not as good, imo.
That west #4 seed, FSU...now that would be a tough matchup, but winnable.

 

[coogrfan]

AAC has 4 teams (1 a play in), including 3 seed UH in the dance. Not too shabby.

 

[DFWJC]

AAC has 4 teams (1 a play in), including 3 seed UH in the dance. Not too shabby.

The American is a very good basketball conference...especially the top half of the league.
They got all of those teams in and yet 4 time NCAA champ UConn had a down year and wasn't even one of them.
That's impressive

REAL strong baseball conference too.

The program that seems to be taking off is UCF.
It's one of the largest universities in the country and located in a talent -rich are....now it's starting to flex its muscles some in almost every sport they play.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Duke wins a see-saw game 74-73 over Carolina

Tar Heels missed SO many open 3s...including a wide open one with 12 seconds left. Normally great shooting 3s, but were 4 of 27...amazing it went down to the last shot. Manly b/c they don't need to 3 to be strong anyway.
Zion Williamson is a monster.
Great game.

Not only that, but Florida State upset Virginia.

Gonna a wild NCAA tourney

Hard to beat a team three times in one season. Great game, be interesting to see just how good Duke plays in the tourney. Carolina is young so hard to know how well they might play, as we all know, guard is king in the tourney and we are young there.

Duke is really, really average without ZW. They gotta hope that he stays playing at a high level the entire tourney. They can't afford for him to not play like a world beater.

 

[DFWJC]

Hard to beat a team three times in one season. Great game, be interesting to see just how good Duke plays in the tourney. Carolina is young so hard to know how well they might play, as we all know, guard is king in the tourney and we are young there.

Duke is really, really average without ZW. They gotta hope that he stays playing at a high level the entire tourney. They can't afford for him to not play like a world beater.

I wouldn't have given the UNC a second thought mid season, but they are a very legit contender.
Their bracket looks rough though. Btw, they do have 3 seniors that play a ton of minutes, but yeah, the point guard is a freshman.
Surprised Jay Bilas picked UNC to beat Duke in the title game.

Things seem set up well for Duke except I thought it was weird that Michigan State got paired with them. MSU easily could've been a 1 seed.
Seems like they paired the #1 and #5 seeds instead of #1 and #8.

A lot of people are p[icing Tennessee to make the final four over Virginia.
Seth Greenberg has Texas tech making it ahead of Gonzaga and Michigan....which would make a certain someone in this thread happy.

 

[DFWJC]

Who are you're favorite upsets?

Pick a few.. I could use some help. I'm thinking maybe Murray St over Marquette for one...maybe.

I play in a pool that awards huge points for upsets---if a 12 beats a five you get the one point plus the difference of 7...so 8 points. So I pick a bunch of upsets.

I was runner up two years ago in this pool of 700+ people and ended up winning about 3700 bucks.
Last year, I was out of the money but top 5%.
Gonna be real tough this year though.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I wouldn't have given the UNC a second thought mid season, but they are a very legit contender.
Their bracket looks rough though. Btw, they do have 3 seniors that play a ton of minutes, but yeah, the point guard is a freshman.
Surprised Jay Bilas picked UNC to beat Duke in the title game.

Things seem set up well for Duke except I thought it was weird that Michigan State got paired with them. MSU easily could've been a 1 seed.
Seems like they paired the #1 and #5 seeds instead of #1 and #8.

A lot of people are p[icing Tennessee to make the final four over Virginia.
Seth Greenberg has Texas tech making it ahead of Gonzaga and Michigan....which would make a certain someone in this thread happy.

I think the committee does pick matchups and I think they see MSU as a physical team that could match up well against ZW.

Honestly, and this will sound like sour grapes, but we should have beaten Duke going away. Horrible shooting night from the 3 and game/clock management at the end was terrible. We could have gotten a better shot at the end, we had enough time to make that extra pass with 4 ticks left or we should have taken it a little bit earlier, to allow for the put back. We got the board and the put back, just not enough time. Duke is very beatable IMO, but then again, we are too.

I also agree that UNCs bracket is toughest of the 4. Tech could beat Gonzaga and/or MIchigan but I gotta say, I think that bottom half of the West Bracket is cake. Tech could go a long way there. There is nobody in that bracket.

 

[DFWJC]

I think the committee does pick matchups and I think they see MSU as a physical team that could match up well against ZW.

Honestly, and this will sound like sour grapes, but we should have beaten Duke going away. Horrible shooting night from the 3 and game/clock management at the end was terrible. We could have gotten a better shot at the end, we had enough time to make that extra pass with 4 ticks left or we should have taken it a little bit earlier, to allow for the put back. We got the board and the put back, just not enough time. Duke is very beatable IMO, but then again, we are too.

I also agree that UNCs bracket is toughest of the 4. Tech could beat Gonzaga and/or MIchigan but I gotta say, I think that bottom half of the West Bracket is cake. Tech could go a long way there. There is nobody in that bracket.

4 of 27 from 3 point land by a team that shoots the 3 very well. Hope we don't see that again this year. Amazing they only lost by 1 shooting that poorly. Bodes well, actually.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

4 of 27 from 3 point land by a team that shoots the 3 very well. Hope we don't see that again this year. Amazing they only lost by 1 shooting that poorly. Bodes well, actually.

I agree. I mean, 11% shooting from the 3 is not good in any kinda way you look at it but, I honestly don't see us doing that again this year.

How you been DFWJC? You guys keep on keeping me and the rest of us unrulies honest!

 

[DFWJC]

I agree. I mean, 11% shooting from the 3 is not good in any kinda way you look at it but, I honestly don't see us doing that again this year.

How you been DFWJC? You guys keep on keeping me and the rest of us unrulies honest!

It's all good here in Big D.
Just trying to get the kids refocused after spring break. They're already almost 16 and 11.
Haven't seen ABQ Jr post in a awhile. What's up there?

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

It's all good here in Big D.
Just trying to get the kids refocused after spring break. They're already almost 16 and 11.
Haven't seen ABQ Jr post in a awhile. What's up there?

Man, where does the time go?

ABQJr. is good. He's just working a lot now. He has a gig with an electrical company designing and installing Grids etc. He is on the road a lot these days and when he's not, he is busy with ABQCowboy the Third, he's almost two now so he is two handfuls.

 

[DFWJC]

Man, where does the time go?

ABQJr. is good. He's just working a lot now. He has a gig with an electrical company designing and installing Grids etc. He is on the road a lot these days and when he's not, he is busy with ABQCowboy the Third, he's almost two now so he is two handfuls.

3 generations of ABQs!
Congrats on that

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

3 generations of ABQs!
Congrats on that

LOL..... Hopefully the other two will do enough to make up for the drag the original ABQ brings to the board.

 

[DFWJC]

Who do you all have for your Final Four?

 

[mmohican29]

Duke
UNC
Michigan
Villanova

Duke over UNC in Final

Hate Duke, but they are almost unbeatable with Zion in the lineup.

 

[DFWJC]

Duke
UNC
Michigan
Villanova

Duke over UNC in Final

Hate Duke, but they are almost unbeatable with Zion in the lineup.

Yeah, Duke should be the favorite.
I think they are very beatable though....just less so that the rest.
UNC (a great shooting tram) shot 4 of 27 on 3 pointers and still lost only by 1 (and with the would winning shot in the air at the end from a good look). That was with Zion last week.
But Zion is a monster

Whoa...Nova in the Final 4 would be a huge shocker. If you have that inyour office pool, and it happens, youre looking good

 

[DFWJC]

That Gonzaga bracket is pretty wide open. They shouldve put Mich St in there as the 2....best 2 and worst 1 (overall 4 and 5) should be in same bracket.
Not out of the qustion that Texas Tech or Florida St does some damage vs Mich and Zags

 

[jterrell]

The American is a very good basketball conference...especially the top half of the league.
They got all of those teams in and yet 4 time NCAA champ UConn had a down year and wasn't even one of them.
That's impressive

REAL strong baseball conference too.

The program that seems to be taking off is UCF.
It's one of the largest universities in the country and located in a talent -rich are....now it's starting to flex its muscles some in almost every sport they play.

Were I in charge of Big 12 I'd be adding UCF quickly.
Massive university in great location.

I'd pair it with USF for regionality and a rival.